Friday, January 9, 2015

In a recent Reality Check column published on RCR Wireless, Accedian's founder and CEO Patrick Ostiguy explored the growth of next-generation mobile network technologies, including VoLTE, in Asia-Pacific (APAC). Here's a summary.

For mobile operators in Asia-Pacific, the appeal of VoLTE is similar to the U.S.: it’s a way to get away from having to maintain two parallel networks (3G and LTE) and provide better data speeds by reusing 3G spectrum for carrier aggregation using LTE-Advanced.

However, VoLTE in APAC is being adopted faster than in the U.S., given that region's specific regulatory climate and market dynamics.

Take South Korea and Japan, for example; these two countries (with analogous wireless markets) have the most advanced, modern mobile networks on the planet. Operators there are moving away from 3G and toward a mix of LTE and LTE-A, and in doing so are necessarily focusing on tighter coordination between base stations in high-density networks, and the monitoring systems required to assure the performance of that coordination.

In APAC, operators want to make sure their backhaul networks are ready to carry VoLTE and LTE-A. As such, a virtual network interface device and performance assurance solution is attractive because, with so many base stations, it’s impractical to install dedicated equipment at each location. Such a solution is also capable of conducting tests between base stations, where handoffs are increasingly being coordinated over the LTE X2 inter-cell site communication standard, which is gaining adoption in these regions.

In her role as Senior Marketing Writer at Accedian, Mae blogs, manages social media strategy, and produces a variety of collateral focused on thought leadership around telecom industry news and trends. She has more than 15 years of journalism and marketing experience, covering business-to-business technology, including telecom, for a variety of organizations including TMCnet.com and Ziff Davis. Mae holds a B.A. in communications from Thomas Edison State College.